I think I'm a part of the first generation of journalists to skip print media entirely, and I've learned a lot these last few years at Forbes. My work has appeared on TVOvermind, IGN, and most importantly, a segment on The Colbert Report at one point. Feel free to follow me on Twitter or on Facebook, write me on Facebook or just email at paultassi(at)gmail(dot)com. I'm also almost finished with my sci-fi novel series, The Earthborn Trilogy.

A Eulogy for Google Plus

It may not be dead, and it’s entirely possible I’m shoveling dirt on something that’s still writhing around, promising me it is in fact the next big thing, but I’m now deaf to its cries. Google Plus is a failure no matter what the numbers may say.

25 million users in barely a month is nothing to sneeze at. Google Plus holds the honor of being one of the fastest growing websites in history, and these early numbers had analysts screaming that Facebook would be all but dead in a few more months.

But today I click on my newsfeed and see tumbleweed blowing through the barren, blank page. It’s a vast and empty wasteland, full of people who signed up but never actually stuck around to figure out how things worked in this new part of town. One simple click takes me back to Facebook, and my wall is flooded with updates and pictures from 400+ friends. This just isn’t a contest, and it never will be.

To know why G+ has failed, we must first look at how Facebook succeeded.

Facebook had exclusivity on its side, a once-upon-a-time fact we’re only reminded of when we watch The Social Network, but even when it expanded past college to the general population, it was a hundred times more user friendly and visually streamlined than MySpace. That site was destroyed by the tackiness of its own users with a propensity for glitter text GIFs and autoplaying pop songs, and when it failed to evolve, the exodus to Facebook was massive and unstoppable.

Conversely, we look at a recent failure, this time where Google came out on top. When’s the last time you got THAT frustrated with the Google search engine? Sure, you might not find what you wanted on occasion, but 99.99% of the time, it fulfills its function exceedingly well. So why on earth would anyone feel the need to switch to Bing? It may work yes, but to the average user, it doesn’t offer anything above and beyond what you’d find with Google, and in some avenues, is actually worse. But how many millions were invested in the idea? Did they really think they had come up with something to unseat the emperor of search?

Now Google has fallen into the same trap with Plus. If anyone is annoyed by Facebook, it’s simply that they’re tired of using it. Their gripes aren’t from the layout, or even the privacy settings, as much as internet outrage over the suspect Terms of Service would have you believe. Google can launch a product that fixes Facebook’s issues, and even looks a touch nicer to boot, but its biggest flaw is simply something it can’t overcome. It’s not Facebook.

My profile tells me everything I need to know about Google Plus, and I suspect the same is true for many others. As active as I am in social media and the latest and greatest internet trends, I have 26 people who have added me into circles, only 8 of them being people I wanted to add back, as for all Plus’s claims of privacy and intimacy, I don’t know most of the others. Out of those, only two post anything at all to the site, and the majority don’t even have profile pictures yet, an indicator they haven’t returned since day one. My recommended friends list is filled with people I’m actually close with, presumably pulled from my Gmail contacts, but the fact that we haven’t added each other yet describes just how little we care about this new network.

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Alan Devereux – I’m afraid Mr +Paul Tassi you just don’t get it at all. Your third paragraph mentions that tumbleweed is blowing through your timeline/stream. Do you think perhaps that is because people have chosen not to share things with you? Did you consider that whereas everyone at the start shared everything with everyone, now they are getting the hang of circles…and perhaps you as a member of the media are being followed rather than being shared with?

A bit further down you mention that only 26 people have added you and you only want to add 8 of them…these are very low numbers my friend. Google+ has never been touted by the company itself as a Social Network, media decided it should be called that. All along Google have maintained the G+ project is about sharing. had you cared to look around you will see that it does just that, it helps people share.

I can share everything I can on Facebook and more, but G+ allows me to find things as well – and it allows me to consolidate all of Google’s products into one arena rather have having multiple bookmarks and tabs. Perhaps you could take the view that you might need to share more for people to share with you? If however you want to build up a useless number (a la Twitter) you could just add yourself to a Crime City forum saying you want to join a mafia, I’m quite sure you can pick up 10 new people a day!

I would like to add a Forbes editor to this conversation but that would be cheap of me, I would like to express my dissatisfaction with regards your article. Instead I will add +Natalie Villalobos of Google who has been very vocal in building up different communities in G+.

Natalie, please pass my compliments to the team for what I am sure will be an excellent addition to the Google Suite of tools (free tools I might add)

Paul, Your bio states you are new to this. As an experienced media and PR professional I would advise you seek counsel before submitting articles. I imagine Forbes went with it for the headline…but you have shown yourself to be a writer without research.

In G+ you’re responsible for your own experience. if you find your stream dull and boring, a vast wasteland, that means the people you are listening to are boring. Add some new people to your circles.. interested in high tech? Add Danny Sullivan or Robert Scoble. Finance? Herb Greenberg of CNBC. Technology? Andrews McAfee of harvard and MIT. You will see not only what they are thinking about – you’ll see what they are reading and find interesting as they post. if all you want to do is find out which of your friends are going to Starbucks or got totally wasted last night.. stick with FB, if you want to learn from people who are well read and maybe smarter than you, go to G+. [Warning: some of the folks I've mentioned are too darned prolific for me, even though I like their expertise.]

I agree very much with pretty much everything you’ve said in this article and kudos on saying it well.

But one thing I disagree with:

“If anyone is annoyed by Facebook, it’s simply that they’re tired of using it.”

Personally I am very bothered by Facebook on a lot of levels. Privacy has little to do with it either.

Every Facebook “upgrade” seems to invariably make things worse. I have no idea what kind of nincompoops they have doing the actual DESIGN and business-logic level stuff, but they are doing a horrid job at that.

I see nothing to compel me to Google+, but Facebook’s incredibly inept upgrade cycle, plus the fact that they have basically no QA phase at all, their code just goes directly into production with no testing, leave me wanting a good alternative.

But it has to be a big improvement (as, as you said, Facebook was over Myspace).

if we’re gonna judge G+ by playing the numbers game, then i have 24 friends, 30 acquaintances (already we’re at over 50), a couple family members, and 50+ people who have added me cuz i said something interesting once. (they tend to post/respond rather frequently.) and i’m not even popular! i think you should base your conclusions on more than just your personal experience.

This guy called it early, he should get props for that. Google+ is clearly dead, I don’t think people who don’t understand the nature of the internet beast might realize why a “soft-open” will not eventually draw people onto the site. Google+ doesn’t offer anything new or better, at least not above a nitpicking level, and it’s really plain looking. Now not only does it not offer any reason to invest time in switching, but all the free advertising is gone too. If they wanted to do this, they should have waited until they came up with a truly innovative idea to build around, and no “circles” doesn’t count as innovative.

I think the same rules that apply in most business will apply in this case. I think the hangouts in Google will become extremely useful in the near future unless somehow Facebook comes up with the same. But still, you may have to give G+ sometime to build a customer base. Look at aol messenger and windows live messenger, they have been around over the years and they all coexist. The internet is a planetary network so there is always a chance. Look Orkut for instance, it’s huge in Brazil. Bottom line: i don’t think Google plus should be thrown away just yet.

I had deleted Facebook because of their attitude on Privacy. I especially liked the idea of Google circles.

I had expected migrating to be like buying another pair of shoes or DVD player… ie a simple neat transfer. I didn’t realise I was going to have to learn a whole new language of terms and functions . If I had the time to do all that, (and most people don’t) the next questions are, why should I be bothered and why the hell should I!

There wasn’t even a chat facility and you STILL you cant just send someone a simple message without again some big complicated rigmarole. Who on earth thought this business plan was actually going to work.

Fan boys can scream what they like! It’s a failure and Google should hang their heads in shame because its not even like people just didn’t try it, the humiliation is that people actually tried it and rejected it, possibly for most of the above reasons!